WHEN I volunteered to attend the Wiltshire Council Environment Summit on Friday I feared that a lot of what was said might go over my head.
But I wanted to represent our city council, and I’m glad I did. Listening to Dr Phil Sterling – now of Butterfly Conservation, previously of Dorset Council – was inspiring.
I hadn’t heard of him before, but on regular family visits to Dorset I’ve seen the results of this ecologist’s work. The household recycling centre at Bridport is a revelation. Yes, a tip can be a revelation!
In summer its central reservation and the perimeter planting are a mass of wildflowers, seeded several years ago as part of a roadside verge trial. They always make me smile. (Not to mention the fact that you can leave your unwanted goods there and anyone can help themselves for a token sum. I got an ironing board for £1. Proper recycling. NB Wiltshire Council!)
Dr Sterling is also the man behind the lovely chalk wildflower banks that line the Weymouth relief road. Thirty species of butterfly have been recorded there. Yes. 30! On the side of a busy road!
And you don’t get to that point just by chucking a few packs of seeds about.
First, as he explained, we’ve got to forget our ideas about the desirability of neatly-mown lush green grass everywhere and persuade our communities to trust us on this journey and not moan about short-term ‘untidiness’. So, work with schools, with wildlife groups, put up explanatory signs …
Because the best grasslands for bees, butterflies and wildflowers develop on the poorest soils.
You cut back on mowing. And use ‘cut and collect’ machines that pick up the mown grass, which you take away for composting. Don’t leave it lying there to enrich the soil.
Do these things and coarse grasses won’t thrive and choke out everything else. So, you will need to mow less. Think of the savings in manpower and fuel!
Sow a wildflower seed mix including things like kidney vetch and yellow rattle, bird’s foot trefoil, field scabious, bee orchid ….. not just poppies and cornflowers! And start counting the creatures that visit these food-rich sites.
Dr Sterling showed us how under this regime the money spent on highway verge management in Dorset reduced from £927,000 in 2014/15 to £650,000 in 2018/19 – and it’s even lower now.
I could see the enthusiasm shining on Wiltshire faces at the prospect of savings like that. So maybe the prospect of healthier finances will speed the unitary juggernaut’s conversion to a healthier environment.
And as someone muttered … Stonehenge tunnel, new road cuttings! I’m not getting into the rights and wrongs of that project here, but if ever it does go ahead – and that’s a big if - let’s take our lead from Dorset and make it as beautiful and as wildlife-friendly as we can.
PS Our city council recently sent one of our officers on a wildflower training course to give us in-house expertise, and we are working hard on our tree and eco strategy for Salisbury, which you will hear more about in September.
But I wanted to represent our city council, and I’m glad I did. Listening to Dr Phil Sterling – now of Butterfly Conservation, previously of Dorset Council – was inspiring.
I hadn’t heard of him before, but on regular family visits to Dorset I’ve seen the results of this ecologist’s work. The household recycling centre at Bridport is a revelation. Yes, a tip can be a revelation!
In summer its central reservation and the perimeter planting are a mass of wildflowers, seeded several years ago as part of a roadside verge trial. They always make me smile. (Not to mention the fact that you can leave your unwanted goods there and anyone can help themselves for a token sum. I got an ironing board for £1. Proper recycling. NB Wiltshire Council!)
Dr Sterling is also the man behind the lovely chalk wildflower banks that line the Weymouth relief road. Thirty species of butterfly have been recorded there. Yes. 30! On the side of a busy road!
And you don’t get to that point just by chucking a few packs of seeds about.
First, as he explained, we’ve got to forget our ideas about the desirability of neatly-mown lush green grass everywhere and persuade our communities to trust us on this journey and not moan about short-term ‘untidiness’. So, work with schools, with wildlife groups, put up explanatory signs …
Because the best grasslands for bees, butterflies and wildflowers develop on the poorest soils.
You cut back on mowing. And use ‘cut and collect’ machines that pick up the mown grass, which you take away for composting. Don’t leave it lying there to enrich the soil.
Do these things and coarse grasses won’t thrive and choke out everything else. So, you will need to mow less. Think of the savings in manpower and fuel!
Sow a wildflower seed mix including things like kidney vetch and yellow rattle, bird’s foot trefoil, field scabious, bee orchid ….. not just poppies and cornflowers! And start counting the creatures that visit these food-rich sites.
Dr Sterling showed us how under this regime the money spent on highway verge management in Dorset reduced from £927,000 in 2014/15 to £650,000 in 2018/19 – and it’s even lower now.
I could see the enthusiasm shining on Wiltshire faces at the prospect of savings like that. So maybe the prospect of healthier finances will speed the unitary juggernaut’s conversion to a healthier environment.
And as someone muttered … Stonehenge tunnel, new road cuttings! I’m not getting into the rights and wrongs of that project here, but if ever it does go ahead – and that’s a big if - let’s take our lead from Dorset and make it as beautiful and as wildlife-friendly as we can.
PS Our city council recently sent one of our officers on a wildflower training course to give us in-house expertise, and we are working hard on our tree and eco strategy for Salisbury, which you will hear more about in September.
